Darth Hater

Players who choose the Assassin advanced class gain access to a double-bladed lightsaber, stealth and the ability to equip Shield generators, allowing the Assassin to effectively damage enemies or protect allies. We have created a guide detailing this advanced class, its roles and how to play them most effectively after the jump.

Editor’s Note: The companions list could possibly be deemed spoiler territory, if that’s a problem, don’t scroll down to the bottom of the post.

Sith Inquisitors who reach level ten will be prompted to contact their advanced class trainer and select their permanent advanced class. Unlike the Sorcerer, who can both heal and deal damage, the Assassin can either deal damage or tank. Additionally, where the Sorcerer is most effective at medium to long range, the Assassin is fairly restricted to melee territory.

Attributes

Darkness:

Primary Attribute: Endurance
Secondary Attribute: Willpower
Combat Ratings: Shield Rating(Absorption Chance), Absorption Rating(Absorption Amount), Defense Rating(Avoidance Chance), Accuracy Rating(Hit Chance)

While willpower affects all Assassin abilities -- including damage mitigation, physical damage and force damage -- for a tank skilled Assassin, one should typically focus on building endurance. Shield rating, Absorption rating and Defense rating all carry roughly the same weight. However, tanks who choose to gear themselves with a focus on Defense may find that they take damage less often, but in large spikes when they do, and tanks who gear more toward Shield and Absorption rating will take damage more frequently, but for smaller amounts.

The most balanced approach is to keep Defense, Shield and Absorption ratings fairly even as gear is upgraded. Additionally, while a Darkness Assassin does have plenty of damage mitigation abilities, they also rely heavily on abilities that debuff and reduce the damage their opponents dish out, giving accuracy a definite place in the Assassin’s gear set.

Deception/Madness:

Primary Attribute: Willpower
Secondary Attribute: Endurance
Combat Ratings: Power (Bonus Damage), Critical Rating, Surge Rating (Critical Bonus Damage), Accuracy Rating (Hit Chance)

For the Assassin skill trees focused on dealing damage, maximum Willpower is the name of the game. Beyond stacking this attribute, players should also aim to increase both Critical rating and Surge rating equally, as they stack very well with skills such as Creeping Death and Induction.

Madness has a focus on sustained damage and damage over time, meaning Power has greater weight for this skill tree as opposed to the bursty, crit happy Deception skill tree. Alacrity has virtually no use for either tree, as the majority of Assassin abilities are not cast or channeled.

Skill Trees

Darkness

Darkness is the tanking skill tree for the Assassin. It relies on the Dark Charge lightning charge to reduce damage, heal the player and produce AoE threat. The Assassin tank is somewhat unique in its ability to produce area of effect aggro, damage reducing debuffs and self healing. Players can use Discharge with Dark Charge, Wither and Lacerate to produce a very high amount of AoE aggro in a very short period of time.

Their damage mitigating abilities such as Dark Ward, Deflection, Overcharge Saber and even Overload need to be managed to ensure the player is never taking full damage from mobs. Although the Darkness Assassin can hold his own when facing single targets, because of the previously listed abilities, AoE tanking is where he excels.

Deception

The Deception Assassin focuses primarily on stealth and dealing damage in bursts through critical hits and stacking damage buffs. Skills such as Duplicity, Static Charges, Crackling Blasts and Voltaic Slash all grant Maul, Surging Charge discharges and Shock surprisingly increased damage, whether it be through a stacking damage buff, increased critical damage or armor reduction. Beyond that, Deception Assassins excel at keeping their force regeneration at full throttle, with many skills reducing the cost of abilities, increasing total force, and vastly increasing force regeneration through Blackout.

Players who choose to level as a Deception Assassin dispatch opponents quickly and efficiently, but require the aid of a tanking companion to get the most out of this skill tree, and may end up stopping to regenerate health more often than they prefer.

Madness

Madness Assassins have a number of tools to deal with various mob types and players. Proper use of skills such as Death Field, Lacerate and Overload can make quick work of groups comprised of standard and weak enemies, while skills such as Raze, Deathmark and Creeping Death can augment the Assassins damage over time effects to unbelievable levels, quickly shredding strongs, elites and other players. Madness contains a number of self healing skills as well, such as Parasitism and Devour, further increasing survivability while leveling or participating in PvP.

Madness Assassins have the ability to differentiate in their companion choices as well, and can perform well with almost any type of companion. However, their unbolstered stealthing ability will leave them to face encounters Deception Assassins can easily avoid. When it comes to leveling as fast as possible, the advantages and disadvantages of Deception and Madness should be weighed carefully.

Companions

Khem Val: +15 Artifice

Khem Val is the Sith Inquisitor’s first companion and an excellent melee tank. Utilizing heavy armor and techblades, Khem is able to approach mobs quickly and hold the attention of large groups easily. Khem’s primary stats are strength and endurance.

Tips

Deception Assassins will require Khem’s tanking abilities to make full use of their Maul ability, however, because of the skill Dark Embrace, they should avoid sending Khem in out of stealth, and rather instigate the fight with a well placed Maul to make full use of its force regeneration. Darkness Assassins should be sure to toggle off Khem's taunts and consider using his damage dealing stance. There are definitely better companions for a Darkness Assassin, but Inquisitors are stuck with Khem for some time.

Andronikos Revel: +2 Critical Underworld Trading,+2 Critical Slicing

Andronikos is the Sith Inquisitor’s ranged damage dealing companion, and operates very similarly to the Sith Warrior’s Vette, preferring to dual wield blaster pistols. Andronikos’s primary stat is cunning.

Tips

Andronikos has a stance for both single Target and AoE ability enhancements, so players should be active about switching these stances depending on particular combat scenarios. Darkness Assassins will likely get the most use from Andronikos, especially while leveling due to his AoE damaging abilities, provided they can keep themselves from taking too much damage and requiring a healing companion.

Ashara Zavros: +10 Synthweaving,+10 Diplomacy

Ashara is the Sith Inquisitor's melee damage dealing companion. Able to dual wield lightsabers, Ashara is for all intents and purposes a Sith Marauder. Ashara’s primary stat is strength.

Tips

Ashara is ideal for filling a DPS hole in a group, as she provides excellent single target damage. However, players will need to actively switch between her internal damage and armor piercing stances based on the types of enemies she is engaging. Darkness Assassins will likely prefer Andronikos over Ashara, as her melee abilities require travel time between mobs, effectively reducing her damage per second.

Talos Drellik: +5 Critical Archaeology,+5 Treasure Hunting

Talos is the Sith Inquisitor’s healing companion. He utilizes a blaster pistol, vibroknife and medium armor. His primary stat is cunning, through much of his exclusive gear also provides Alacrity.

Tips

Talos makes a great companion for Madness Assassins. Between self heals and those Talos is providing, Madness Assassins can engage groups with virtually zero downtime. Darkness Assassins who dislike regenerating health between fights or find themselves dying often with a DPS companion may choose to use Talos instead, however, their progress may be slowed significantly.

Xalek: +10 Bioanalysis,+2 Critical Scavenging

Xalek is the Sith Inquisitor’s ranged tank, and functionally does not differ much from Khem Val. However, those who prefer a companion that uses double-bladed lightsabers, changing gear appearances and Galactic Basic may prefer him over Khem. Xalek’s primary stat is Willpower.

Crafting Skills

Obviously, Crafting Skills that focus primarily on non-force users are going to be wholly ineffectual for Assassins. With that in mind, there are a few Crafting Skills that stand do out.

Cybertech: Cybertech crafts item modifications, earpieces and droid parts. This crew skills is arguably one of the best in the game, especially for those who prefer moddable gear and unique mounts. Item modifications can be used to upgrade newly acquired gear and earpieces can be used to equip players and their companions. However, because the Inquisitor does not have an incredibly useful droid companion, the ability to craft droid parts is lost on this class.

Artifice: Artifice crafts weapon crystals, lightsaber mods and enhancements. They also craft relics at end-game. Assassins skilled in the Deception and Madness trees benefit greatly from this crew skill as they can mod their armor with enhancements and have access to crafted relics.

Synthweaving: Synthweavers can craft armor for Force users. Darkness Assassins will likely gain the most from this crew skill due to the potential for maximizing endurance through crafted armor. Additionally, with the capability to craft modifiable armor, players can choose their armor by looks and use mods to stay current.

Biochem: Able to craft stims, medpacs and implants, Biochem provides some of the most universally useful items in the game. Beyond that, reverse engineering these items can leave the player with high quality reusable versions fairly early, allowing the player to save massive amounts of credits while staying exceptionally buffed and augmented with additional healing.